1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to drilling of lateral wells into earth formations, and more particularly to the maintaining the wells in a desired position relative to an interface within a reservoir in situations where the earth formations are anisotropic.
2. Description of the Related Art
To obtain hydrocarbons such as oil and gas, well boreholes are drilled by rotating a drill bit attached at a drill string end. The drill string may be a jointed rotatable pipe or a coiled tube. Boreholes may be drilled vertically, but directional drilling systems are often used for drilling boreholes deviated from vertical and/or horizontal boreholes to increase the hydrocarbon production. Modern directional drilling systems generally employ a drill string having a bottomhole assembly (BHA) and a drill bit at an end thereof that is rotated by a drill motor (mud motor) and/or the drill string. A number of downhole devices placed in close proximity to the drill bit measure certain downhole operating parameters associated with the drill string. Such devices typically include sensors for measuring downhole temperature and pressure, tool azimuth, tool inclination. Also used are measuring devices such as a resistivity-measuring device to determine the presence of hydrocarbons and water. Additional downhole instruments, known as measurement-while-drilling (MWD) or logging-while-drilling (LWD) tools, are frequently attached to the drill string to determine formation geology and formation fluid conditions during the drilling operations.
Boreholes are usually drilled along predetermined paths and proceed through various formations. A drilling operator typically controls the surface-controlled drilling parameters during drilling operations. These parameters include weight on bit, drilling fluid flow through the drill pipe, drill string rotational speed (r.p.m. of the surface motor coupled to the drill pipe) and the density and viscosity of the drilling fluid. The downhole operating conditions continually change and the operator must react to such changes and adjust the surface-controlled parameters to properly control the drilling operations. For drilling a borehole in a virgin region, the operator typically relies on seismic survey plots, which provide a macro picture of the subsurface formations and a pre-planned borehole path. For drilling multiple boreholes in the same formation, the operator may also have information about the previously drilled boreholes in the same formation.
In development of reservoirs, it is common to drill boreholes at a specified distance from fluid contacts within the reservoir. An example of this is shown in FIG. 2 where a porous formation denoted by 105a, 105b has an oil water contact denoted by 113. The porous formation is typically capped by a caprock such as 103 that is impermeable and may further have a non-porous interval denoted by 109 underneath. The oil-water contact is denoted by 113 with oil above the contact and water below the contact: this relative positioning occurs due to the fact the oil has a lower density than water. In reality, there may not be a sharp demarcation defining the oil-water contact; instead, there may be a transition zone with a change from high oil-saturation at the top to high water-saturation at the bottom. In other situations, it may be desirable to maintain a desired spacing from a gas-oil. This is depicted by 114 in FIG. 2. It should also be noted that a boundary such as 114 could, in other situations, be a gas-water contact.
In order to maximize the amount of recovered oil from such a borehole, the boreholes are commonly drilled in a substantially horizontal orientation in close proximity to the oil water contact, but still within the oil zone. U.S. Pat. No. RE35,386 to Wu et al, having the same assignee as the present application and the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference, teaches a method for detecting and sensing boundaries in a formation during directional drilling so that the drilling operation can be adjusted to maintain the drillstring within a selected stratum is presented. The method comprises the initial drilling of an offset well from which resistivity of the formation with depth is determined. This resistivity information is then modeled to provide a modeled log indicative of the response of a resistivity tool within a selected stratum in a substantially horizontal direction. A directional (e.g., horizontal) well 115 is thereafter drilled wherein resistivity is logged in real time and compared to that of the modeled horizontal resistivity to determine the location of the drill string 121 and thereby the borehole in the substantially horizontal stratum. From this, the direction of drilling can be corrected or adjusted so that the borehole is maintained within the desired stratum. The resistivity sensor typically comprises a transmitter and a plurality of sensors. Measurements may be made with propagation sensors that operate in the 400 kHz and higher frequency.
A limitation of the method and apparatus used by Wu is that resistivity sensors are responsive to oil/water contacts for relatively small distances, typically no more than 5 m; at larger distances, conventional propagation tools are not responsive to the resistivity contrast between water and oil. One solution that can be used in such a case is to use an induction logging that typically operate in frequencies between 10 kHz and 50 kHz. U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,136 to Tabarovsky et al having the same assignee as the present application and the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference, teaches a method of interpretation of induction logs in near horizontal boreholes and determining distances to boundaries in proximity to the borehole.
An alternative approach to determination of distances to bed boundaries is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/373,365 of Merchant et al. Taught therein is the use of multicomponent induction logging tools and measurements as an indicator of a distance to a bed boundary and altering the drilling direction based on such measurements. In conventional induction logging tools, the transmitter and receiver antenna coils have axes substantially parallel to the tool axis (and the borehole). The antenna configuration of the multicomponent tool of Merchant et al. is illustrated in FIG. 3.
FIG. 3 (prior art) shows the configuration of transmitter and receiver coils in the 3DExplorer™ (3DEX) induction logging instrument of Baker Hughes. Three orthogonal transmitters 201, 203, and 205 that are referred to as the Tx, Tz, and Ty transmitters are placed in the order shown. The three transmitters induce magnetic fields in three spatial directions. The subscripts (x, y, z) indicate an orthogonal system substantially defined by the directions of the normal to the coils of the transmitters. The z-axis is chosen to be along the longitudinal axis of the tool, while the x-axis and y-axis are mutually perpendicular directions lying in the plane transverse to the axis. Corresponding to each transmitter 201, 203, and 205 are associated receivers 207, 209, and 211, referred to as the Rx, Rz, and Ry receivers, aligned along the orthogonal system defined by the transmitter normals, placed in the order shown in FIG. 1. Rx, Rz, and Ry are responsible for measuring the corresponding magnetic fields Hxx, Hzz, and Hyy. Within this system for naming the magnetic fields, the first index indicates the direction of the transmitter and the second index indicates the direction of the receiver. In addition, the receivers Ry and Rz, measure two cross-components, Hxy and Hxz of the magnetic field produced by the Tx transmitter (201). This embodiment of the invention is operable in single frequency or multiple frequency modes. It should further be noted that the description herein with the orthogonal coils and one of the axes parallel to the tool axis is for illustrative purposes only. Additional components could be measured, and, in particular, the coils could be inclined at an angle other than 0° or 90° to the tool axis, and furthermore, need not be orthogonal; as long as the measurements can be “rotated” or “projected” onto three orthogonal axes, the methodology described herein is applicable. Measurements may also be made at a plurality of frequencies, and/or at a plurality of transmitter-receiver distances.
While the teachings of Merchant are show that the 3DEX™ measurements are very useful in determination of distances to bed boundaries (and in reservoir navigation), Merchant discusses the reservoir navigation problem in terms of measurements made with the borehole in a substantially horizontal configuration (parallel to the bed boundary). This may not always be the case in field applications where the borehole is approaching the bed boundary at an angle. In a situation where the borehole is inclined, then the multicomponent measurements, particularly the cross-component measurements, are responsive to both the distance to the bed boundary and to the anisotropy in the formation.
It would be desirable to have a method of determination of distance to a bed boundary in a deviated well in anisotropic earth formations. The present invention satisfies this need.